2000 BMW 323ci 2.5l 6cylinder manaul transmisson 1st gear wont stay in gear. pops out and grinds so i just avoid 1st gear and take off in 2nd. What is causeing 1st gear to do that?

http://techauto.awardspace.com/transmission.html
this covers the symptoms and the repairs. to me it sounds like it could be the tcu. maybe a blown capacitor. hope this helps. and goodluck.

That sounds right to me.

unfortunately yes it does.its sounds like your 2nd gear synchro is out.unfortunately your tranny needs to come out to fix it.does it only between 1-2? or other gears? if all gears your cutch is goin but just between 2 specific gears a synchro times the gear teeth so they lock in and its off and teeth on the gears are the grinding you are hearing.sorry to have to tell yah that one.i always loved my old 325 is model always fun to drive.

could have been trans fluid you saw on the floor years ago,,,if its manual trans there is no dipstick,,,maybe this one just is unlucky,not all cars even of the same modeland year perform the same,,everything is the same but diffrent,,,why dont you go get the trans fluid changed and see how much fluid comes out and if any metal comes ouot in the fluid,,,,then change it and see howit is,,other than that start pricing a new or used trans,,probably cheaper then tearing the old one down and fixing it

The syncro is about $185.00 and labor is hard to say, if it's been grinding and damaged hard parts tthere will be more money for parts and may mean the transmisson has to come out, and thats more money so it could get as high as $500.00 or more depending on what it needs. It's hard to say without tearing it down and looking at the parts.

its going bad sry man

Check the fluid! Had similar problem, $0.87 in fluid fixed it.

does it shift through it's gears? 1st ,2nd,3rd? if it dosn't then the tcu is burned out a common problem for 91-93 accords

check shift fork adjustment. make sure you bleed the slave cylinder.also check shift cable adjustment.

The 5r55w transmisson is known for wearing out the case where the front and middle band servo pins go thru. If it wore the front band servo, it would slip in 2nd. But if it slips in 1st and 2nd it sounds like it could be a weak forward clutch. How many miles does it have on it. If you can get it up into the higher gears, does it slip in 5th. 2nd and 5th use the same band to apply them. Are you gettting and overdrive off light flashing? IF yes, what codes?